Landowner given two weeks to cut long grass

A landowner who bought plots of green space at auction has been given two weeks to tidy them up after they were left to grow wild.

In June 2014 people living around Casterton Road and Rockingham Road raised concerns when the open spaces near their home were sold by developer Jelson, which built the estate.

Members of campaign group Stamford Open Spaces said it would be difficult for private owners to maintain the land for community use.

A year on and their fears were realised, with the grass on the plots left to grow up to waist height.

Some residents even spotted dead rats in the area.

South Kesteven District Council’s environmental health team began monitoring the situation and on Tuesday confirmed that the landowner had been given two weeks to cut the grass.

A council spokesman said: “We have been in contact with the owner and he has assured us that the land will be tidied up and the grass cut back within the next 14 days.

“If he fails to act within this timescale we will then consider whether formal action is appropriate.”

The Mercury has so far been unable to identify the landowner. Stamford town councillor John Dawson did buy some of the plots up for sale in the town’s Scottish estate last year, but the overgrown areas were not among them.

People living near the spaces got so fed up with the long grass that they put up signs calling for them to be cut.